Sherman's Effect
by Jason Sherman
Summary: Jason woke up not knowing who or where he is, or what he is capable of. Somehow he manages to make a powerful ally in a certain red-headed woman when the planet is attacked. Join Jason on his adventure to help save the galaxy, but remember; one must remain in the light, for demons lurk in the shadows. (Mostly AU until slight deviation at the end. My OC is not a SI)
1. Alea iacta est

**Welcome to my first ever fanfiction story! Mass Effect is easily my favorite video game series. After reading many of the wonderful ME stories here on fanfiction I have finally decided to write my own. As the description states my OC is not a SI. He has a personality of his own that does not reflect mine, nor will he be an OP god-like character like most SI's have. This story will be mostly canon, but will get slightly AU as we move through the games. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything Mass Effect. The amazing story and all of Mass Effect's characters belong to Bioware and Ea. This story is meant for entertainment purposes only and is not used for monetary gain.**

* * *

Have you ever looked back at a memory you regret or makes you angry? Despite it having ended years ago you let the emotions you felt then consume you, almost as if it's happening all over again? I used to do that a lot. When I was taking a shower, or just about to fall asleep, or bored as I walked home from class; I would relive my least favorite memories for no other reason than to imagine, _what if?_ What if I had reacted different, or thought it out before acting so irrationally; maybe I would still be friends with that one person, or not made a fool of myself in public that one time. Maybe I could have saved more people.

After a while, I stopped asking myself those questions; stopped reliving those memories because worse memories made me forget the first ones. After all these years, all these lives I've lived, all the people I've met, people I've loved, lost…. _killed_. I guess part of me stopped caring. What used to be an innocent, thoughtful person became a cold-blooded killer so quick I had to shut down _that_ part of my brain. You know, the part that asks _What if?_

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

* * *

I woke up with a horrible taste in my mouth. Rolling to my side, I realized that the horrible taste was from puke … I had just rolled on top of. When the smell hit me, it forced me to vomit for who knows what time.

Raising myself to my hands and knees, I focused on breathing deeply. I blocked out the smell and the taste in my mouth and concentrated on stopping the world from spinning around me. After a few moments it eventually stopped so I turned and sat down with my back against a pile of boxes. I slowly opened my eyes, giving them time to adjust to the flood of light, and took in my surroundings. I was sitting in an alleyway of sorts in what appeared to be a busy city. Neatly paved roads, sidewalks on both sides of the street, streets lined with shops and restaurants and lots of traffic lead me to conclude.

 _Okay, why am I sitting in a dirty alley and throwing up_ , I thought to myself. What sacred me was when I tried to think of the last thing I could remember doing absolutely _nothing_ came to mind. No late night partying or anything like that. Hell, I couldn't even remember my childhood! At first I thought I had taken some super fucked up drugs, but realized drugs never really were my thing.

The more I thought about myself, the more I realized I didn't remember anything. Before I could have a panic attack, I forced myself to remember the easy things.

 _My name, Jason Sherman, easy enough. My family? Nothing. Where was I born? Good Question. Man this sucks._

Sighing irritably, I decided a walk around would be a good idea. Ditching my now disgusting jacket, I began my stroll in the crisp morning air. I stopped and stared at myself in the front window of a store. My face, well… I looked like me. I think. I definitely didn't recognize the plain white shirt tucked into a pair of blue jeans that stopped just at the top of my black running shoes. I looked to be about six feet tall, slightly tanned skin, and had a decent amount of muscle. I'd guess I weigh in at about 170 pounds. I'm not body-builder status, but I'm certainly not skinny or fat. All in all I'd say I looked about as normal as I think I remembered.

Rubbing my face with my hands, I let out another deep sigh. I really needed to get my memory back. I dropped my hands and stared at them for a moment before turning them over. When I did, an orange glow surrounded my arm and what appeared to be a home screen popped up as a 3D hologram. Staring in disbelief for a moment, I swiped the home screen with a single finger and the screen slid to the side like a touch screen tablet or phone. A display of different applications appeared and I had no idea what any of them did.

Shrugging, I began walking towards what i thought should be the market district of the city. It was then that it struck me I had no idea exactly where I was. Seeing a black and blue stand with a sign that said 'News' on top I quickly crossed the street and went to buy a paper. To my surprise, there weren't any newspapers at the stand. Instead, there was a scanner and a sign that read 'Newspaper - 1 credit'. Going on a whim I put my left hand under the scanner and to my surprise the orange tool on my hand lit up with a message, 'Payment accepted'. The message disappeared and was replaced with the cover page of the paper.

 _Elysium Gazette? Not exactly original,_ I thought with a grin. Scanning the top of the page the year was 2176 CE. _So, I'm on Elysium._

I closed out of my omni-tool and continued my walk towards the market district. After a few short minutes I arrived at the front of a few shops. Before I could decide which one to look at first, a loud siren began playing throughout the city. It sounded almost like a hurricane siren. Moments later tons of rusty, old looking ships began to fly over the city. All around me people stared up at the sky with horrified expressions. Some began screaming, others ran for safety.

Me? I just stood there like an idiot and watched.

There must have been a military base near by because soon people dressed in uniforms with guns began to direct the civilians, attempting to prevent a mass panic. One in particular stood out among the rest. A rather beautiful woman was standing on the fountain ledge in the park in the middle of the market square directing a group of soldiers in an attempt to set up a loose perimeter of the square. She had red, short cropped hair that just reached her shoulders. She wore black armor with red stripes and a white N7 painted on the right side of the chest. Deciding she looked like she knew what was going on, I approached her.

"What is going on?" I called as I jogged over.

"Batarian raid" was the short answer.

 _Batarians? But that meant... Oh shit_

She must have seen the realization of what that meant dawn on my face because she smirked before saying, "All civilians should hide in the stores around the square. We will keep them occupied until reinforcements arrive".

"I want to help" I stated plainly.

She scoffed before looking me over, "Are you trained in combat?" she asked me. The truth was I wasn't sure. But I'd rather die fighting than cowering in fear.

"I've fired some small arms and rifles before" I responded. That I knew was true. I had a vague memory of shooting many different guns, but I wasn't sure when or where.

She looked at me for a moment before responding. "I don't think this is a good idea".

I looked around us for a moment. Then I looked up. "There is easily thousands of them up there and only six of you. You look like you could use all the help you can get".

She seemed to digest that for a moment before shrugging. She pulled a pistol off of her hip and held it out to me, "Ever fired this one before?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow.

I took the weapon out of her hand and ran my hand along it. Luckily I had, though despite not know how I knew this, I knew this was a Striker Mk 4 pistol.

"Striker Mk 4 pistol. 15 shots before overheat, received an accuracy rating of 51 out of 100, moderate damage but reasonably controllable recoil" I rattled off as I checked to make sure the safety was on and looked down the sights.

The woman in front of me now had both eyebrows raised but quickly recovered. "You see that stone wall over there shaped like an 'L'? I want you there. Watch for Batarians approaching from the south side" she said as she pointed in what I assumed is the direction of south. I nodded before jogging over and taking a knee behind the wall.

"Oh and Civvie?" she called to me.

I looked back at her with a questioning look.

"Keep your head down and listen to my every word" she commanded.

 _Geez, this woman has the aura of a commander. Wouldn't want to get on her bad side,_ I thought. I nodded and took a deep breath. Most of the soldiers around me laughed at my reaction, assuming it meant I was nervous. A few gave me concerned or pitying looks, almost as if they thought I was already a goner.

Honestly? I wasn't nervous at all. The amount of adrenaline running through my body made me feel ready for battle, almost as if I was _anticipating_ it.

The commander took cover opposite the path from me behind a similar 'L' shaped wall and gave me a slight nod. All around me had become quiet, the air felt slightly colder as everyone prepared for what was coming. I scanned the streets ahead of me, never poking my head too far out of my cover.

We were taking cover behind the walls that separated the stone walkways from the patches of flowers and other shrubs in the park. Four streets converged into a single one that surrounded the park. If the Batarians came from one or even two directions, we would have plenty of cover to hold them off. If they came from more directions we would be absolutely screwed.

"Contacts, southwest" someone called out. I quickly followed everyone else's eyes and spotted the incoming Batarians. I could see about 50 or so of them, slowly walking towards the square in an unorganized group.

"Hoover, Malovich. Start this party off with some grenades. Focus on the tighter groups. Brennan, you're our only other biotic. I want you on support. Barriers are a priority on the more intense side of the fighting. Throw singularities if you can catch at least three of them with one. Benson you see the one in the red coat?" the commander relayed to nods and 'yes ma'am'.

"Yes, ma'am" Benson replied.

Take his head off with that sniper of yours as soon as the grenades go off" the commander replied. "Dean, you and I are going to then move up to the outer wall. Brennan you take my spot"

A round of 'yes ma'am' once again accompanied her orders.

"What about me?" I asked.

"You stay right there and behind cover. No more than three shots before you duck back down. Understood?" she asked me with a look that said, _if you don't I'll knock you_ _r_ _head off_.

"Yes ma'am" I replied.

"Good. Lets move".

I watched with bated breath as Hoover and Malovich rose out of cover and tossed a couple of grenades each. They were back down behind cover before they even went off.

Time seemed to slow down for a moment as the grenades soared through the air. Time sped right back up as soon as the grenades landed in the middle of the Batarians. An earth-shaking explosion followed and then shortly after was the loud report of a sniper rifle. The grenades were thrown with surgical like precision, landing in the middle of the densest parts of the group. The Batarian with a red coat's head exploded like a watermelon.

Despite our initial surprise advantage and the apparent organization of the Batarians in front of us, they quickly recovered and took cover behind abandoned cars and the corners of buildings. Following her instructions to the letter, the soldiers around me moved with the speed and agility of a well-oiled machine. Doing my best to help out, I was one of the first on our side to pop out of cover and take three shots. This had multiple effects on the Batarians. I was able to take the shields down on one Batarian, but didn't do enough to do any real damage. Our sniper managed to readjust his aim and take him down as well. Unfortunately, now the Batarians knew were I was and some began to fire on my position. Ducking down quickly, I heard the mass-accelerated rounds ping off of the stone wall I was behind.

I paused a moment for the soldiers around me to draw attention off of me before popping back up and firing again. Once again I was only able to take a Batarians shields down before I was forced back into cover.

 _Damn it. I really need to invest in a shield_ , I thought irritably.

"Dammit Civvie. You can't do all the work on one alone with that thing. Wait for one's shields to go down and then strike!" the commander yelled back to me.

Realizing what she meant, I waited for one to pop out of cover and to lose his shields. As soon as the first bullets pinged off of his shields I popped out of cover and took aim. Two more bullets hit his shield before I fired. My first shot hit him in the chest, taking down his shield. I quickly adjusted and fired two more bullets in rapid succession. The first went through his right shoulder. The second, however, punched through the middle of his four eyes. He dropped dead without a single sound.

Getting back down behind cover, I realized just how deeply I was breathing.

 _I just killed someone!_ I yelled at myself. I hadn't even considered I would have to in this fight. What scared me the most was that it didn't bother me. I would have thought for sure killing someone would have a serious impact on me, but I felt _nothing._

"Get back in the fight Civvie!" the commander yelled at me.

Realizing I had stayed behind cover for a few moments too long, I shook the uneasiness I was feeling aside. _Time to worry about that after I get out of this_.

I quickly jumped up and took aim on another unprotected Batarian. Just after I pulled the trigger, ending his life, I watched a grenade sail over the battlefield towards us. Or more accurately, at me.

"Grenade!" someone yelled as everyone took cover.

I quickly ducked back down behind cover watching the grenade fly through the air in what felt like slow motion. It sailed over my cover and landed right behind me. Turning, I threw my hands up in a last second attempt to protect myself. I felt a tight strain on the back of my head.

Someone screamed, "NO!" and then there was an Earth-shattering BOOM and darkness.

 _I am dead. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead._ I repeated over and over. However, no pain came. In fact, I'd say besides the ringing ears I was perfectly okay. I opened my eyes to see the smoke had cleared. Somehow, I was covered in a purplish glow.

 _A biotic barrier,_ the realization hit me. I looked up to Brennan to say thank you, but she was slowly shaking her head. Eyes wide. Confused, I looked at the commander.

She was looking at me with mixed expressions. She clearly looked confused, but I also thought she looked mad. Like really mad.

As time slowly sped back up, everyone around me turned back to the fight. At this point there were only a handful of Batarians left to deal with. Deciding my heart had taken enough for now, I sat down with my back to the wall and focused on slowing my breaths and left the professionals to do the rest. Soon, the sounds of gunfire ceased around me.

Before I knew what was happening someone was standing in front of me and lifting me by my shirt collar.

"What the hell was that civvie? When were you going to tell us you were a biotic!" the commander shouted in my face.

I stared back at her dumbfounded. It was Brennan who spoke up.

"Ma'am, I don't think he knew. He got it up only at the last second and didn't even have his barrier activated throughout the fight".

The commander looked at me with eyebrows raised, as if to say 'Well?'.

"I had no idea" I replied.

"Bullshit. Look how strong it is. He'd have to have an L2 amp to make one that strong and those are military only. You mean to tell me you weren't aware you had a bio-amp in your head?" she yelled at me.

I got to be honest. I wasn't a big fan of being screamed at for saving my own life. I got angry.

"NO! I had no idea whatsoever! I can't remember a single thing outside of today!" I yelled.

That made her put me down, however her skeptical look did not leave her face.

"What else can you do?" she asked me angrily.

"I just said I can't remember anything outside of today" I replied, slightly more calmly this time.

She didn't seem too happy with my answer, but gave up all together. She turned back to her squad.

"Apply any medi-gel if needed and get back into position. Any other forces around here will have heard that".

"Yes ma'am" her squad chorused.

As they ran through their personal checks and repositioned themselves, the commander began checking the equipment of the Batarians we had just cut down. She came back with a few rifles.

"Here" she said to me as she tossed a rifle at me through the air.

I expertly caught it with one hand around the handle. Checking it out, it appeared to be a standard Mk 1 Terminator assault rifle. It was pretty beat up, but the scope worked just fine.

Tucking my pistol into one of the loops in my jeans, I shouldered the rifle and readied myself for fight number 2.

It wasn't long until the next group of Batarians approached. We quickly and rather uneventfully dispatched the smaller group of thirty or so. I soon found I didn't like the hard and unpredictable kick of the assault rifle and stood it up against the wall next to me. I much more preferred the precision and predictable kick of the Striker.

The next few groups that came across us were even smaller than the second and hardly fought together. To say we put them down easily would be an understatement.

It wasn't until hours after our first fight that a massive group of Batarians approached us.

"That's a lot of Batarians" I mumbled aloud.

Approaching us from three separate directions, spread out pretty evenly, the Batarians slowly and methodically closed in on our position. It was clear they knew where we were, unlike the past few groups. One stepped forward, omni-tool held activated in front of him.

"That is enough you pathetic worms" his voice boomed from the speakers of his omni-tool, "lay down your arms and surrender and you need not die today. You have three seconds to comply, or we will kill you all".

"Ideas, ma'am?" Malovich asked.

"Kill them all" the commander growled.

Dean was the first to react. He quickly popped up out of cover and fired on the apparent leader of the Batarian group. His shot was slightly off, merely braking his shields and clipping the side of his head. He went down, but was definitely not dead.

Deciding to join the fight, I tried to focus on the sensation i felt earlier when I had activated my barrier. Surely I could do it again if I focused. After a few moments of concentrating, and a "Hurry up!" shouted by the commander, I finally got my barrier reactivated.

 _Let's do this_ , I thought as I inwardly smiled. I stood up out of cover and began firing. I had every intention of taking advantage of my 15 rounds before a cool down was necessary. Since I was located on the left side of our formation, I decided to start there and work my way inwards. I lined up my sights on the furthest Batarian I could to the left and pulled the trigger rapidly four times. The first three shots broke his shield and the fourth went through his chest, hopefully where his heart was. I snapped to another target and repeated the process, putting him down as well. A sudden influx in fire my way forced me down in cover.

"Don't get cocky now that you have a barrier, Civvie" the commander shouted to me with a grin.

Ignoring her, I focused back on the fight. I noticed the commander was definitely a seasoned veteran. She fought methodically, wasted no energy or time with her movements, and despite focusing on what she was doing she appeared to see the entire battle around her. I also noticed she was a strong biotic, evidenced by the multiple biotic abilities she was using. Despite having never seen these moves before, I knew what they were. Warp, Throw, and Lift appeared to be her favorite moves. She was disrupting their lines, throwing and lifting our enemies out of position with relative ease. Brennan was also using similar moves, however at a much slower pace. They both used their biotics in combination with their assault rifles in a terrifying display of power.

Getting a little curious, I tried to mimic her movements when she used throw. Concentrating on that feeling in the back of my head again, I applied what i thought were similar hand gestures with as much emphasis as I could. Instead a dark blue sphere of energy erupted from my hands and crashed into the middle of a group of Batarians. Four of them were suddenly picked up off of the ground and were floating in space.

The commander and I quickly opened fire on them while they were in their helpless state. We quickly killed two of them before the mass effect field I had created looked to waver. At that moment, the commander shot a warp at them. The resultant blast propelled them backwards into their fellow pirates, killing the two in the explosion.

"Can you do that again?" the commander asked me.

"I can try" I replied with a smile.

I began throwing singularities rapid fire across the battle, however I noticed two things. One, after throwing about two more singularities i suddenly felt a lot more tired. Two, they got weaker the more I threw in rapid succession.

"Not like that! You need to give yourself a few seconds to recharge before you just throw another. You'll drain yourself too quickly!" she scolded me.

Shrugging, I went back to shooting the bad guys. _I wonder what other abilities I have._ Trying not to get too distracted with my thoughts, I thought hard about what other abilities I had and how I got them. Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted in my head, forcing me down to my knees with my head cradled in my hands.

"You okay? Are you hit?" the commander asked, worried.

Brennan came running over to me, stopping in a crouch to check on me. "He appears to have over exerted himself. The pain will subside in a few moments" she said.

I hadn't over exerted myself. I had a brief flashback to a completely white room with a one-way mirror in it. I was using my biotics to move objects of varying weights around the room. I heard someone say, "Impressive" but I wasn't sure who. I stared at my reflection in the mirror in shock. I looked to be about ten years old. With the memory came an influx of information passing through my brain, as if there had been a blocker in my brain and the memory removed it. I began to feel angry, the kind of anger you feel when you rehash memories you've long kept suppressed. Suddenly, I knew exactly what I could do with my biotics.

Slowly rising to my feet, I glanced at the commander.

"Cover me" I said with a grin before I vaulted my cover. Locking in on my target, a rather large, ugly looking Batarian was just aiming his rifle at me. I quickly sent out a shockwave that stumbled him and the others around him. I then prepared myself to charge, like bending a giant rubber band, before snapping into action and exploding into the front of the still stumbled Batarian. The force of the impact was enough to kill him instantly, but the resulting biotic explosion resulted from the impact was enough to blow his buddies around him apart as well. By now the twenty or so remaining Batarians that made up our left flank began to concentrate solely on me. The incoming fire forced me to vault over the car I had just charged through and let myself recharge for a moment.

"Are you crazy?" the commander shouted at me from her position, "You just completely exposed yourself and our left flank!".

"Help the others. I got this!" I yelled back.

I formed a grand plan of what my next move was going to be, envisioning how awesome it would look to an observer. After a few moments of rest and checking to make sure I still had my barrier, I got back into motion again. I charged into the center of a group of seven Batarians, sending my victim flying through the windshield of a parked car further down the street. I then activated my annihilation field and drew my pistol. The remaining Batarians around me were engulfed in the blue biotic flames that erupted from the ground in a five meter radius around me, so I focused elsewhere.

I snapped my pistol from target to target, letting loose four bullets each until it overheated. The fourth target surprisingly only took three shots, but I chalked it up to weak shields and moved on. My annihilation field finally shut off and I slid back into cover behind a severely charred car. I had successfully finished off half of the remaining force on this side, but now my biotics and pistol were on cool down. Reattaching my pistol to my hip, I quickly drew my assault rifle off of my back and sprayed bullets at the Batarians on the other side of the street in an attempt to keep them in cover. It mostly worked, except one managed to get around behind me. I heard the click of his gun as he prepared to pull the trigger and a slight laugh. Doing the most dangerous thing a biotic can do when they don't have a shield, I dispelled my barrier in a nova blast around me, launching the Batarian into a street lamp and knocking him out.

 _Now I'm really screwed_ , I thought as I prayed for a bit of luck. A few Batarians slowly got out of cover and advanced slowly on my position. Throwing out a singularity I managed to catch all three of them and carefully peaked around the car to take them out with my assault rifle. That done, I switched back to my now cooled pistol and began to take slightly more accurate potshots at my opponents. I managed to keep them at bay long enough to reactivate my barrier. With a smile, I sent a shockwave at the remaining Batarians through the car I was behind. Hearing the grunts of pain from them, I took that as my cue to rise up from cover and advance on the last two Batarians. Without their shields, one shot to the back of the head as they writhed on the ground in pain ended their misery.

I turned back to the remaining fight to see most of the remaining Batarians had congregated into one group and were trying to make one last attempt to breach our line. I ran from cover to cover until I rejoined the soldiers.

"How's the situation over here?" I asked.

"You mean since you stopped following orders and went off on your own? Dean and Malovich are down but stable. Brennan and I are just about at the end of our biotic capabilities for this fight, and Benson took a round through the shoulder" the commander recapped in a clipped tone.

The gravity of my actions finally struck me. While I had thought I was making it easier for them to focus on the other two flanks while I cleaned up the left, I had made things a bit harder. Dean was laying on his side while Benson kept checking on a bullet wound in his back.

"He took that while covering you" Benson said.

 _He must be the reason why that fourth Batarian only took three bullets. Shit,_ I thought with a grimace.

The commander cut off my thoughts, "I need your head back in the game. Move up to that wall there. I want you priming as many of these bastards with singularities as you can. Go!"

Nodding, I moved into position and began systematically tossing singularities. Some of them tried to move up to a better position, but I cut them off with a shockwave that the commander detonated almost instantly. It was clear that numbers was the only advantage they held over us. The experience and training of the soldiers and the higher level of our gear easily allowed us to turn the tide of battle.

Just as we cut them down to just ten combat capable, in atmosphere fighters flew over head. A cry from the soldiers around me proved these were alliance fighters. Reinforcements were finally on their way. We fought with renewed strength and easily crushed the remaining Batarian forces.

Once we had finally dispatched the remaining enemies, I sat down hard in the dirt. _Man I'm tired,_ I thought with a heavy sigh. I'm not sure how long I sat there in a daze, I barely noticed when Benson came over to me and checked on me, but eventually the commander appeared at my feet. Looking up, she smiled at me before sitting down next to me.

"You did well today. For a civvie" she said with a chuckle.

I laughed, but said nothing. I knew what was coming next, and I wasn't sure how to explain myself.

Sure enough, the commander took my silence as submission and finally asked me, "Where did that come from? The biotics? The incredible accuracy? The knowledge of that pistol".

I waited a few moments while I mulled it over in my head. I could lie and make up some crazy background but I could tell she would see right through that. So, I decided for the truth.

"I'm not sure. When I woke up this morning, I could barely remember who I was. I have no recollection of the past before today, except one sudden flashback I had earlier" I responded slowly.

"You mean when you went down with that head pain?"

"Exactly. I'm not sure what happened, but it unlocked some memories and information that was stored away in my brain" I responded. I continued before she could ask her next question, "I'm not sure what to make of it, or what it means, but I will figure it out".

She looked at me carefully as I looked out over what was just moments ago a battlefield. In the distance, a large group of alliance marines were approaching in a uniform march. The commander stood up and began walking towards them. She paused and seemed to consider something for a moment before activating her orange tool in her hand and typing something on it. My tool pinged with a new message from 'Jane Shepard'. Before I could check it she turned back to me and offered me a hand up. I took it.

"I sent you my contact information on your omni-tool. If you ever need any help give me a call. You deserve it after your actions today" she said with a smile.

I nodded before she turned and greeted the approaching soldiers. That conversation confirmed two things for me. One, they hadn't trusted me at the start of this fight and hacked my, what I now knew was called an omni-tool, for information on me. And two, I had just made a very powerful ally.

* * *

( _Two days later)_

 _Citadel News_

 _4:00_ _pm._ _Citadel time_

In a bold move, Batarian pirates from the Skyllian Verge have attacked the Human sanctioned colony of Elysium in a brash attempt to gain control in the Verge. The part of the Alliance Second Fleet that is stationed near Elysium was out on patrol at the time of the attack and did not return until several hours into the invasion. Small pockets of resistance stemmed the flow of death and destruction wrought by the Batarians.

They're calling her the Lion of Elysium. One Jane Shepard, who was on leave on Elysium during the attack, managed to rally her squad of six soldiers in the market district of the capitol for several hours, saving countless lives and buying ground forces much needed time to organize a campaign to retake control of the planet. Shepard, who has been promoted to the rank of Commander, has not been available for comment.

Rumors have been spreading of the possibility of a counter-strike operation against the Batarians by the Humans. No word yet from Human officials as to the truth of the rumors.

* * *

 **And thus the first chapter of Sherman's Effect concludes. I treated this first chapter almost like a game's prologue. There is much about Jason that we do not yet know, but everything will come to light eventually. Also, Jason will have much more difficulty fighting well trained, organized enemies. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed! I review with what you thought or if you noticed any problems would be much appreciated!**

 **Until next time.**


	2. Auribus Teneo Lupum

**I apologize for the long wait for chapter 2. I had a lot of projects due in the final weeks of school and finals to worry about. I had written about half of this chapter before I was forced to put it aside and get my schoolwork done, and upon going back to it I scrapped it and restarted. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy Chapter 2!**

* * *

The next seven years past by quicker than I thought possible. After the raid on Elysium, later referred to as the Skyllian Blitz, I knew I wanted to get off that planet and go somewhere safe.

Getting off the planet was fairly simple since the focus was on the battle scarred civilians. I used the few weapons I had picked up during the fight to barter my way onto a sketchy cargo transport that was headed to Eden Prime. The journey was rather uneventful despite the fact that the mostly turian crew were looking at me like I was dinner.

Once I got to Eden Prime I quickly rented a room at a small inn near the spaceport. The room was cozy enough consisting of a bed, bedside desk with a lamp, no windows, and an extranet terminal. I didn't plan on making it home for very long, but it would do for now.

Occasionally I would have migraines that would knock me out for a large portion of the day. Sometimes during these I would have flashbacks similar to the one I had on Elysium. At first they were a continuation of my time in that observation room, but over time I began to remember other things. I was taken from my family at the age of seven by two men in all black suits. They said that I was very sick and took me to a hospital somewhere and tried to heal me. There were many other patients in this hospital. They would hook me up to IVs and inject me with strangely colored drugs. Some of them would put me to sleep, others would leave me laying in bed sick for days. Eventually, the drugs stopped having an effect on me. Soon after they put me through a series of surgeries. I don't remember much about the surgeries, but I do remember how there were significantly fewer 'patients' after that. After the surgeries they started to teach us to use our biotics. They hooked us up to different machines and watched as we moved objects around the room.

These migraines and memories stopped after a few months, which I was grateful for. Every time I woke up from one I would be uncontrollably mad for reasons I couldn't remember. I tried looking online to figure out who they were or where I had been, but I couldn't find anything.

Eventually I gave up on that and focused on a more pressing problem. My money supply was running dangerously low. After spending most of a day searching online for easy ways to make money I stumbled on one I actually rather enjoyed. The stock exchange industry was a rather lucrative way to make money if you were careful. After weeks of reading guides on successful stock exchange habits and careful observation, I finally began buying and selling stocks. At first I didn't do very well. I often times would buy stocks too early and then wait too long to sell, resulting in a smaller profit margin. After months of barely making any money at all I slowly began to learn from my mistakes.

After a few years I was making a substantial amount of money and was able to move out of that inn and bought my own house. I purposefully bought a small cabin in the 'countryside' outside of the city fairly far from anyone else. I was close enough that walking into the city wasn't too much of a bother, but far enough that I could set up a firing range and not be bothered.

It was surprisingly easy to acquire a gun license here on Eden Prime. A quick journey to the police station proved that all I needed to do was fill out an application form, prove that I could properly handle, maintain, and fire the type of firearm I wanted, and pay a few hundred credits. After a few days my application and near perfect scores were processed and I was the owner of a shiny new gun license for both rifles and pistols.

After nearly seven years on Eden Prime I had settled into a relaxing and enjoyable lifestyle. During the days I would exercise regularly, walk around the city, and practice at my firing range. At night I would put the news on my living room TV while I observed my stocks at my extranet terminal.

I was more than content to do this forever, but as usually all good things come to an end. The end to my easy living came in the form of a giant, flying cuttlefish.

* * *

"Sherman, move you fucking ass!" Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams screamed at me as I sprinted across the battlefield, desperately trying to find new cover. I was outflanked by a pair of Geth rocket troopers and was barely able to avoid their assault. Having no other choice I dove behind the same rock the Gunny was taking cover behind.

"That was too close" I said while gasping for breath.

"No time for rest. They're pushing up"

Rounds were constantly impacting our cover, and the occasional rocket flew past or struck the ground near us. I gritted my teeth before poking out of cover again. This was the second time I was caught in a fight for my life without any armor and I wasn't a fan. _If I make it out of this I'm never going without armor_ , I thought as I brought my rifle to bear around the side of the rock. There were at least ten Geth advancing on our position.

"Four hoppers inbound!" I shouted as I opened up on the closest one. I quickly dispatched one, but was forced back into cover before I can do anything more.

"One down" I called as I waited for my gun to cool.

"Make that two" Ashley responded as she too was forced back into cover.

"We can't keep this up for long" I groaned."Just keep firing" the ever motivating Ashley replied.

Popping out of cover again, the two remaining hoppers where almost on top of us. Behind them was a pair of Geth Destroyers and a trio of Rocket Troopers. Just as I was about to fire on the next hopper I saw the reflection of light in the distance. I instantly threw myself back into cover just as a round whizzed by where my head just was.

"Sniper!" I called frantically.

"Shit" Ashley responded, her shields now completely down.

Thinking quickly, I threw out a shockwave towards the approaching Geth. All it did was stumble the Geth for a moment, but it bought me enough time to send some shots down range at the sniper. I barely managed to suppress it, but didn't do much damage. Cursing under my breath, I quickly drew my pistol and snap shots off at the hoppers. I was able to take them both down, but not before my barriers were nearly taken out.

"Hoppers down" I noted.

"Good. Let's take care of these Rocket Troopers next" Ashley ordered.

"Yes ma'am" I replied with a slight grin.

We both popped out of cover at the same time. Ashley sent her final grenade down range, wiping out the shields of two of the Rocket Troopers. I followed it up with a Stasis and detonated it with a singularity. My biotics now almost completely drained, I fell back into cover as two of the Troopers exploded, sending pieces of metal flying in every direction.

"Good work!" Ashley called.

"We still got a sniper, two primes, and a rocket trooper to take care of" I called back.

"We'll need a miracle"

I peeked out of cover to take stock of the situation and dreaded what I saw.

"We got five incoming assault drones!" I called.

"Shit. We got to fall back"

"To where? That's a killing field behind us. We'd have to make it to the trees"

"It's our only shot. We need space"

Swearing loudly, I threw another shockwave to stumble the remaining Geth and burst out of cover. Ashley and I ran like hell, weaving in and out of the scattered rocks. Just as we were about to make it to the tree line, Ashley hit the dirt behind me. Turning and dropping to a knee behind cover, I quickly take aim on the pursuing assault drones. Ashley rolls onto her back and does the same with her pistol.

"Move Gunny!"

We manage to take down four of the drones, but the fifth is zeroing in on Ashley who is still scrambling to get up and behind cover. Behind the drone the remaining troopers are nowhere to be seen. Just as the final drone is about to open up, a sniper goes off behind us causing the drone to explode in a shower of metal and sparks.

"What the hell!" I shouted as I quickly turn and scanned the treeline.

From the tree line emerges two alliance marines, dressed in full combat armor and armed to the teeth.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. Are you the one in charge here, ma'am?" Ashley asked as she snaps off a salute.

"Commander Jane Shepard. Are you hurt?" Shepard responds.

"A little banged up, but nothing too bad" I respond.

Shepard does a slight double take at the sound of my voice, "Civvie?.. I mean, Sherman? What on Earth are you doing here?" she asks, mouth slightly agape.

"Oh you know doing what I do best. Preventing random raids on Human colonies" I reply with a grin.

Shepard shakes her head before turning back to Williams."What happened?"

"My squad and I were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried getting off a distress call, but they cut off our communications. My entire squad died before we could regroup. I would have joined them, had Jason here not saved me" Ashley recalls.

"I was at my personal firing range when it started. I quickly grabbed some gear and ran towards the gunfire. I didn't get there fast enough".

"We've been fighting for our lives ever since" Ashley concluded.

"Any idea who this is?" Shepard asks.

"It's the Geth" I say with confidence.

"The Geth? They haven't been seen outside the Veil in nearly 200 years" Shepard's squad mate says.

"Why are they here now?"

"Good question Kaidan. Perhaps they're after the beacon?" Shepard contemplates.

"If they are, the dig site is close. Just over the rise there. We should hurry" Ashley says.

"Fall in soldiers" Shepard commands as she moves forward.

"Ashley, Kaidan take point. Sherman I want you in the middle on support. I'll bring up the rear" Shepard directed us.

I did my best to look like I had some military training, but I quickly discovered how untrained I looked in comparison to the other three in my party. On a few occasions Shepard had to remind me to stick to formation as I had wondered too close to Ashley and Kaidan.

We made easy work of the remaining Geth platforms that Ashley and I had fled earlier and continued on towards the dig site. It was eerily quiet as we approached, but the site looked to be all clear.

"I don't like this" Kaidan mumbled from the front.

"Head on a swivel people. They could be anywhere" Shepard called from the back.

Just as we were about to cross the threshold into the dig site a Geth drop ship appeared behind us.

"Contacts!" Shepard yelled, spurring all of us to dive for cover.

"They're pinning us in here" I observed.

"No time to move. We'll have to fight our way out" Shepard said as enemy troops began to jump out of

the drop ship.

"Ashley, Kaidan focus on taking out their shields. Sherman prime them for detonation once their shields are down, I'll detonate them" Shepard commanded us.

It didn't take us long to destroy the assaulting Geth. Despite Ashley and I just joining the group, the four of us fought like we'd been doing this together for years.

Once we finally wiped the remaining Geth from the area, we regrouped at the center of the dig site.

"This is the dig site. The beacon must have been moved" Ashley stated.

"By who? Us? Or the Geth?" Kaidan responded.

"Hard to say" I said as I observed the skies around us.

"We should check out the research camp, at the top of this ridge" Ashley suggested.

"Good idea. Same formation as before people. Let's move" Shepard said after a moment of

deliberation.

Most of the buildings in the camp were either destroyed or on fire. Crates and debris were scattered everywhere, but the unnerving part was the ten-foot spikes everywhere. At the top of them were…

"Are those...?" Ashley began.

"Colonists" Shepard growled.

As we approached, the spikes suddenly retracted into their base. The bodies unimpaled themselves from them, slowly arching their backs in an 'exorcist' fashion.

"Oh my god! They're still alive" Kaidan shouted, shocked.

"What did the Geth do to them?" Ashley asked.

"Whatever they did, they're not colonists anymore" Shepard said.

Shepard was right. Their skin looked like it had been melted to their bones and blue cybernetics shone throughout their bodies. As soon as their feet touched the ground, they began sprinting at us. I hesitated for just a moment, before pulling the trigger on the closest one. It's head exploded in a shower of blue blood and sparks.

The rest were easy enough to take down, but I felt an unnerving feeling wash over the group. I suddenly had a bad sense of foreboding.

"My god, they don't even look human anymore" Ashley said as she was crouched over one of the bodies.

"Did you hear the noises they made?" Kaidan asked.

I shuddered at the thought of their terrible moaning, as if the tiny bit of them that was still human was crying out in agony.

"We need to keep moving people. Kaidan, unlock that door up ahead" Shepard called. Kaidan quickly got the door to a building open and we shuffled inside.

"Humans! Thank the maker" a thin woman with short red hair greeted us.

"Hurry! Close the door. Before they come back!" a short, balding man said from behind her. He sounded like every word caused him great pain.

"Don't worry, you're safe here. Who are you?" Shepard asked.

"I'm Dr. Warren, I was in charge of the excavation of the beacon" the thin red head responded.

"Where is the beacon now?" Ashley asked.

"It was moved to the spaceport this morning. Dr. Manuel and I stayed to pack up the camp" Dr. Warren said.

"Stay here, we'll take care of the Geth. We'll send someone to pick you up soon" Shepard said.

After spending the entire conversation mumbling madness to himself, Dr. Manuel finally spoke up."You can't stop it. Nobody can stop it. Night is falling. The darkness of eternity"

"Hush, Manuel. Go lie down. You'll feel better once the medication kicks in. You go ahead. We'll be fine now thanks to you".

We quickly left them, locking the door behind us, and moved for the spaceport.

"Man that guy was crazy" Ashley stated.

"He has a doctorate, so clearly he has to be extremely smart. Maybe a little unstable, but still really smart" Kaidan countered.

"They say genius and madness are two sides of the same coin" I said, effectively killing the conversation.

We quickly made our way to the spaceport, not encountering a single Geth yet. Suddenly, a single gunshot could be heard fired in the distance.

"Move people!" Shepard shouted.

We broke into nearly a sprint, rushing to aid the colonists by the spaceport.

As we finally broke through the tree line, we were rewarded with a wonderful view of the train station down below us.

"What is that? Off in the distance!" Kaidan shouted.

"It's a ship. Look at the size of it!" Ashley replied in awe.

A ship of unimaginable size in the shape of a giant squid was slowly rising from the ground. Tendrils of red electricity shot from it's head to its many tentacles as it quickly took flight into the sky.

Suddenly that sense of foreboding got a lot stronger.

"Geth! Right below us" Ashley shouted as she and Kaidan took cover.

A couple of Geth were dug in at the entrance to the station. I quickly pulled most of them out of cover and suppressed the ones who remained behind their shields.

After quickly dispatching the small unit of Geth, we rushed into the station to find a dead Turian on the ground.

"Nihlus!" Shepard called as she ran ahead, crouching next to the body.

I joined her next to the body. The turian lay face down in his own pile of blood.

"He was shot through the back of the head" I observed.

"But how? Nihlus was a spectre, nobody could sneak up on him so easily" Shepard said.

"Something is moving. Over behind those crates!" Ashley shouted.

We all quickly readied our weapons at the creates, waiting for anything to pop out.

"Wait! Don't.. Don't shoot! I'm one of you! I'm human!" the dockworker yelled as he slowly raised out of cover with his hands up.

"What are you doing, sneaking around back there?" Shepard asked.

"I'm sorry... I was hiding. From those... those creatures" he said. "My name's Powell. I saw what happened to that turian. The other one shot him. The other one got here first. He was waiting when your friend showed up. He called him Saren. I think they knew each other. Your friend seemed to relax. He let his guard down... and Saren killed him. Shot him right in the back. I'm just lucky he didn't see me behind the crates"

"And you just hid there while everyone else was killed?" Ashley said, her fists clenched.

"I... I was already behind the crates when the attack started" he said slowly.

"Wait, you were there before the attack started?" Kaidan asked incredulously.

"I... sometimes I need a nap to get me through my shift. I sneak off behind these crates where my supervisor can't find me".

"You survived because you're lazy?" Ashley shouted.

"I'm sorry... I... I didn't know how to help" he said, eyes cast on the ground.

"Why are you so nervous?" I asked.

"Wha... what? I'm not... nervous" he said.

Shepard glanced at me for a moment before continuing, "Tell us why. You look like your still hiding something.

"Oh.. alright. I smuggled some weapons onto the planet to sell, but the attack came before I could sell them" he said.

"My squad was being massacred out there! And you sat here with weapons that could have helped?!"

Ashley shouted as she took a step forward.

I held out an arm to stop her while Shepard also stepped towards him, "Give me these weapons and be thankful I don't put your ass in jail".

After acquiring the grenades and weapon mods from the pathetic man, we quickly moved towards the train.

"Geth up ahead!" Kaidan shouted.

Taking cover on the walkways ahead and below us were a ton of Geth.

"There's too many for an all out assault" I said.

"Jason's right. We'll have to move up methodically, slowly picking them off" Shepard said.

That was exactly what we did, moving from cover to cover, only gaining a couple of feet every time we moved.

"They're pushing back!" Ashley shouted."Don't fall back! We need to push on towards the beacon" Shepard commanded.

We dug ourselves in, desperately trying to stem the tide of charging Geth. A shockwave managed to stumble a large group incoming Husks and Shepard quickly detonated them with a warp.

"Move up!" Shepard called."There's too many, commander!" Kaidan called.

"If we don't push through right now we may never get to that beacon!" Shepard shouted above the noise of battle.

It took us a while, but eventually we managed to wipe out the remaining Geth at the station.

As soon as the last Geth fell, we collectively let out a sigh of relief.

"No time to rest. We need to keep moving" Shepard called as she approached the train controls.

I sat down with my back to the railing and began applying medi-gel to the various holes I had collected.

"Here, let me help" Kaidan said as he crouched down next to me.

"Thanks" I replied as he began dressing the wound on my right shoulder.

"Did you used to serve in the alliance?" He asked me as the train started to glide down the track.

"Nope" was my short response.

"Really? You're doing pretty well for a civilian" Kaidan replied, astonished.

I smiled at him, but said nothing.

He changed the subject, but pressed forward, "How do you know the commander?"

"I was with her on Elysium"

"You mean the Batarian raid?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Indeed" I grunted as I shifted my position.

"Eyes forward people, we're approaching the spaceport" Shepard cut in before I could gauge his reaction.

When the train finally came to a stop we were immediately caught in a dangerous cross fire.

"Cover!" Shepard shouted and we all dove to the side.

"Shepard we have a problem!" Kaidan shouted.

"What is it Lt?"

"Look!" He yelled as he pointed towards the platform. Sitting on the platform right next to us was a pile of crates. I was confused at first, until I finally noticed the red blinking light coming from what a thought was a crate at the back of the pile.

"Okay, new plan. Ashley and I will push forward and clear the way for you two! Kaidan disarm these bombs, we can't be sure how many there are so search everywhere. Sherman, cover him!" Shepard ordered as she took point.

After we managed to clear the Geth surrounding us, Kaidan rushed tot he bomb and began doing his thing. I crouched next to him and scanned our surroundings.

"How's it look" I asked.

"I've disarmed worse" was his short reply.

Ashley and Shepard did a great job of clearing the spaceport by themselves, making it pretty easy for Kaidan and I to find and disarm all the bombs. After what felt like forever, the sounds of gunfire slowly petered out and we joined Shepard and Ashley near the beacon.

As Shepard radioed the Normandy for pickup, the three of us approached the beacon in awe. It had a strange, eerie green glow to it, as if it were activated.

"This is amazing. Actual working Prothean technology. Unbelievable!" Kaidan said.

"It wasn't doing anything like this when they dug it up" Ashley exclaimed.

Ashley and Kaidan both slowly approached the beacon, clearly fascinated by it.

As they closer, suddenly it started glowing a little brighter and lifted the two of them off their feet. I reacted first, quickly grabbing hold of Ashley and pulling as hard as I could. We both collapsed to the floor once she was freed from it's pull. Shepard was right behind me, but was forced to jump into it's field and throw Kaidan out. This worked in freeing Kaidan from it, but now Shepard was slowly being lifted off her feet.

Kaidan and Ashley quickly got to their feet to help her."No! It's too dangerous. All you'll manage to do is get yourself stuck in there too" I said as I held them back from helping.

"We have to do something!" Kaidan shouts as he struggled against my grip.

"Jason's right, there's nothing we can do" Ashley said as she helped me hold him back.

Shepard began convulsing in midair as she continued to rise higher. Suddenly, there was a bright flash and the beacon exploded. Shepard was launched over our heads and landed hard on the platform.

"Shepard!" Ashley called out as we rushed to her side.

"Normandy come in! We need immediate evac. Shepard is down. I repeat, Shepard is down!" Kaidan called out.

After waiting for several moments, the Normandy finally came into view, touching down in a field just outside the spaceport. Doing our best not to cause anymore damage to Shepard, we slowly began to carry her towards the opening doors of the Normandy.

A couple of people quickly ran out with a stretcher. After we got her on and secured her, we quickly jogged her into the ship. Kaidan led the way towards the med-bay where we slowly lowered her onto a bed.

An aging doctor with a stern face was waiting for us, watching us carefully. After we got her settled in and the doc was able to start checking on her, the three of us took a sigh of relief.

We slowly began to settle and calm down, at least until a middle-aged man with a deep tan came barging in and shouted, "What the hell happened down there?!".

* * *

 **I hope everyone enjoyed the latest chapter. As always, please favorite/follow if you enjoyed and leave a review of what you thought. As a quick side note, I know the combat in this chapter was rather lacking. I quickly found that I am not very comfortable writing long segments of combat and I wanted to get this chapter out for you all. I am going to be doing a lot of reading to get an idea of how others achieve successfully writing combat and will do my best to include more in the future.**

 **Until next time!**


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